Elderberry
Greetings, listeners! Welcome to another episode of the integrated pharmacist podcast. Today I'd like to share with you one of my favorite herbal medications - the elderberry. With the current COVID-19 pandemic causing socioeconomic upheaval, people are scrambling for some miracle product that will prevent themselves from getting the dreaded disease. From disinfectants and face-masks to unproven medications, very little seems to be off the table at his point. Elderberry has taken some spotlight in all of this, because of its history of use in other viral infections. Research suggests one of it's effects is similar to the human hormone interferon. Interferon is a chemical that virus-infected cells release that helps prevent neighboring cells from getting infected. The in-vitro trial I refer to demonstrates mostly late-stage activity against influenza virus infection as well as immune response activation to up-regulate specific cytokines during active infections.